The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!
Good Morning, Portland! This week's winter weather has already been truly off the chain, but the NWS says to hold onto your boots. The Pacific Northwest is about to plunge into an "atmospheric river" that may bring even more rain, snow, and ice.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Portland's Pride celebration has taken place at the end of June for nearly 50 years. But yesterday Pride Northwest announced it's moving the parade and waterfront festivities to July! We immediately called Poison Waters to ask if that was okay.
• Roughly a third of my friends are currently sick with a COVID-19 redux or another RSV. And a similar number (thankfully with very few overlaps) are currently without power. KOIN reports that more than 150,000 customers in Oregon and Southwest Washington were without power Tuesday evening.
• Holy crap, yesterday's wild winds ripped part of the roof off the Barbur Boulevard Park and Ride in Southwest Portland. KATU reports:
RIPPED OFF ROOF: We’re seeing a lot of damage this morning after yesterday’s high winds & heavy rain.
— Savannah Welch (@svnnh_wlch) December 28, 2022
I was live at the Barbur Transit Center earlier, which took quite a beating from the weather.@trimet says the center is closed until further notice: https://t.co/GFMFJdEDIT pic.twitter.com/sEGQRJVJXD
• Who's ready for a boring bridge story? I love history, but can you believe OPB has so much flippin' money that this is what they devote their time to? On the other hand, history is fascinating + fun: "Mayors of both cities symbolized the merger of their communities by officiating at a mock wedding held on the new bridge." WE DEMAND A REENACTMENT. GENDER IS A CONSTRUCT.
• What we love about this "Best Bites of 2022" column is that food critic Andrea Damewood gives love to all dishes who are deserving—be they a 12-course collaborative prix fixe meal at Cafe Rowan or the outstanding hummus at Bluto's:
Food critic @adamewood takes us through the sensational entrées, seasonal sandwiches, and ever-present sides she tasted this year in Portland. https://t.co/XUqy7EZg5o
— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) December 27, 2022
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• A deadly snow storm struck Buffalo, New York with force, burying the city and surrounding Erie County under 52 inches of snow! That's amazing—but terrible because the storm came with a tremendous and tragic death toll: 34 people, so far. The county has brought in state and military police to enforce an emergency ban on driving in Buffalo.
• The Supreme Court dashed the dreams of hopeful migrants at the US southern border yesterday, halting a trial judge's attempt at lifting Trump- / pandemic-era restrictions Title 42:
BREAKING: The Supreme Court is keeping the pandemic-era limits on immigration in place indefinitely, dashing hopes of immigration advocates who had been anticipating the end of Title 42 this week. https://t.co/j7vfJ35xiv
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 27, 2022
• Word problem: If a third of my friends have an RSV and another third are without power, what percentage of my friends' luggage is lost thanks to airline chaos? Southwest Airlines has no idea.
• Oooh New York Times, you're singing my song.
About 998 million square feet of office real estate across the U.S. is available and in search of a tenant — nearly 13% of the market. Couldn’t at least some of that be housing? Here's why that's not always easy to make happen. https://t.co/G8oQzLNA4o
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 27, 2022
• Those Unreal Keanu Reeves videos are deepfakes!
@mediawise Has Keanu Reeves really made the jump from the Matrix and John Wick to weird viral TikToks? MediaWise teen fact-checker Sophia shows you how to figure out if a video you see online is real or a #deepfake. Deepfake videos, images, and audio that use artificial intelligence can be very convincing. But spreading realistic fake videos of political figures can have dire consequences for national security and democracy, and people can be blackmailed or have their reputations damaged. Even when the intent is harmless, a lot of people can be fooled. Are you a teacher? Check out our FREE one-hour lesson plans made in collaboration with PBS Student Reporting Labs. In this lesson, we learn about the different types of “deepfake” techniques, how to identify fake videos created by artificial intelligence and the positive and negative uses of the technology. Find more videos and lesson plans at the link in bio. #AI #medialiteracy #tiktokforgood #tiktokpartner #teachertok ♬ original sound - MediaWise